


Strain

by trashboiethan



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Apocalypse, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, How Do I Tag, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Original Character(s), Not Beta Read, Original Character Death(s), Post-Apocalypse, Power Bottom ethan also, Slow Burn but i can get impatient, Survival Horror, We Die Like Men, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombie rules, also chica, also tbh i just forget to beta read, apocalypse au, don't mind my mildy sadistic ass, this is gonna get updated a weird hours so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:54:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23827156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashboiethan/pseuds/trashboiethan
Summary: quick note, IDK how to write summariesalso special thanks to my friend Ana who helped me write this, she doesn't use ao3 tho.hit her up on Wattpad, redlovesrose777~~~~AUAfter an experimental disease strain project is breached and gets out and begins infecting the vast majority of the US population, small pockets of surviving humans go around. With the infection being similar to that of the rage virus from 28 days later, causing aggression, anger and extreme violent behaviour, causing those affected by the illness, having been nicknamed the psychos, or infected.~~~~Mark, Mika, Ethan, Felix, Marzia, Sean and Evelien, are complete strangers who just want to survive in the shitstorm that the world is in.don't know how to say anything else without spoilers tho so.enjoy! Also, this gonna be, real fucken long, so stay tuned fellow sinners.This may become a series, because I don't want this to end up being super long
Relationships: Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor, Marzia Bisognin/Felix Kjellberg, Mika Midgett/Ethan Nestor, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Sean McLoughlin/Evelien Smolders
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53





	1. The Wanderer

## Strain 

### The Wanderer 

Three months ago, Mark had been living normally. He didn't have to avoid being murdered and eaten by a bunch of cannibalistic psychopaths, even if he escaped he'd still end up either dead or like them. Though he didn't much want to keep on trying to be honest, he'd lost just about everything. Now he wandered through what remained of L.A, with a blanket covering the blood-stained passenger seat of his car and Chica his dog. The blood-stain...he remembered it all too vividly, god, watching somebody bleed out. Not something you forget. Mark remembered every detail of that day, every word she said...how long it took, every single little detail. it only took four minutes, and she was gone, he felt so bad. He felt like he should have done more, but, Mark wasn't a doctor, he knew that, but still. Mark sat in silence in his car, lying across the backseat, Chica curled up on the floor. He didn't know what time it was, he could have checked if he wanted too but, he didn't want to be seen by any, _thing_ , outside.

Mark didn't sleep that night, only a couple hours before loud gunshots rang out nearby. Mark jumped at the loud sound, and so did Chica, as he started to bark.  
"Hey, hey it's ok, is ok" Mark whispered, gently stroking her head, calming her down as best as he could.

Mark got up and jumped to the glove compartment, where he kept an old magnum 44 revolver he owned, and an aluminum baseball bat from under the passenger side, he loaded the 6 bullet chamber and peered out into the street, where he saw a man and a woman fighting a group of Psychos. The guy looked about 5'10 with brown hair head shaved at the side and the rest was tied back, and the girl to be around 6' with medium length, also brown hair tied up. Mark took out a roll of duck tape and a thin scarf he had cut in two and wrapped one of the pieces around his forearm and tightly taping with the tape, he quickly did the same to the other arm and pulled a stained red sweater over his chest.

Mark climbed out of the car, Chica close behind, who he quickly ordered back into the car. The couple appeared to be stuck by a semi-covered staircase by an apartment. He walked toward the couple and shot down a Psycho that had near managed to pin the guy against the back wall. The bullet entered the side of the psycho's head and splattered warm blood across the man's face and sent the psycho flying to the paved ground.

"Holy shit!" The man yelled quicked looking towards Mark, who gestured back to the psychos and then took out his bat and swung it into another one's head, crushing in its temple making it collapse to the ground. One charged to him, attempting to bite him, Mark took his right forearm and hit the psycho in the teeth and it bit into his duck-taped arm, and Mark kicked it away. As Mark fended off a few others, the couple got their position under control and got out of the stairwell hall and out into the street with Mark.

The girl nervously looked down at Marks arm, the one the psycho had bit down on, Mark, without even turning his head, pulled up his sleeve to show them the tape, which now had a visible dent in it.

"Don't worry, not bitten. Duck tapes useful", Mark softly laughed, turning to meet her eyes. The guy paused for a moment, before speaking,  
"Uh, Names Sean, this is my girlfriend Evelien" His voice was laced with an Irish accent, he wore a grey jumper with the word _berlin_ across the chest, faded blue jeans, an open black zip-up and a pair of black converse. He had an ash brown beard and hair, and pale skin like Evelien, unlike Mark who had almost jet black hair, thinner facial hair and olive-toned skin. Sean spoke clearly as he gestured to the woman who smiled.  
"Mark," he said, slipping his gun into the pocket of his pants.  
"Oh, shit thanks for saving our asses" He breathed, as he too, put away the Winchester rifle he had been holding, wrapping the strap back around his torso and using his sleeve to wipe the blood from his face.  
"Welcome" Mark nodded  
"What are, you doing here, why'd you help us?" Evelien asked, still holding the small handgun she carried, "Most people avoid fights at all costs" she continued  
"Just uh, wanted to help" He replied "No something I uh-Yeah", he said, his thoughts trailing back to Amy. It clicked in Sean's head after a moment, when he saw the glassiness of Mark's eye's as he spoke.

"You two should leave, as soon as you can", Mark suggested, making a move down the street, towards where to freeway was

"Even if you have to go on foot, get out of here, out there you could see someone coming a mile away, whether it's a person of a psycho" He added

"I don't expect you to trust me but-"  
"Thanks, but we already have a camp, by the freeway" Evelien corrected, "You could, come with us if you want. Get out of the city", She said, turning to Sean who nodded.  
"If you don't mind, It's just nice to meet someone who isn't trying to kill me for the first time in like 3 months"


	2. The Searcher (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan and Mika had been travelling together but were separated when a large group of Raiders kidnapped Mika and beat Ethan half to death and left him for dead in the wreckage of their camp.  
> I don't feel like making this too long, so, 2 parts babey.  
> e n j o y

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to write this instead of sleeping. help my dumbass. This contains the very unpleasant activity of sewing yourself up so, yeah.

Pain  
A mind-numbing pain was the only sensation that Ethan felt, he didn't yell, he couldn't.  
A stinging in his chest and throat. A wet and burning feeling filling his side, and the sweet metallic taste of blood covered his tongue and slipped between his teeth and lips, from biting through part of his tongue. The feeling of all of this had been numbed to an extent by the adrenaline, but now it was in full force, his nerves screamed at him and it felt like lightning bolts that shot through his body. A survivor, or at least, you could call him that, but was he really though?

70 days ago, still it didn't feel real, that time ago, they had been eating dinner when a car had crashed outside and got their attention. People ran, and essentially, it was madness outside. He saw a white van had hit somebody and two people step out, the girl had blonde hair, the man, was Mark, but Ethan didn't know that. He and Mika got in their car, and drove as quickly as they could, while they got their things, they saw somebody, who was bloody and crazed, one of the Psychos tackle the girl, by then the two of them had already gotten in the car and were on their way out. They didn't go too far, eventually, they found an abandoned house and stayed there for a while. Ethan had forgotten really, how much they bounced around. That wasn't what mattered right now, what mattered was the threat of bleeding out.

He felt like time had slowed down, and all of a sudden it all came back to top speed and he was pulled back to consciousness and the intense pain that engulfed his entire body. He groaned and coughed, blood and spit pouring from his lips and onto the floor. He propped himself up on his elbow and peered into the barely lit house. As he moved, he felt more screaming signals from the nerves in his side. He looked down to see a huge bloodstain that radiated from his side, there was a cut on his side that had caused him to bleed all over his clothing and wood floor, He felt tears quickly forming in his eyes, and running down his face, cutting through dried blood that coated the side of his face. 

"Mik-a-a" He coughed out, only worsening the pain. As he spoke his voice was raspy and hoarse.  
"Mika!" He yelled again, wrapping his arm over his side, and attempting to stand. Though he tried, he only managed to get half on his knees, and then collapse again. God, he felt like he was going to vomit, the twisting and churning pain in his body, and he was correct. He turned to the side and the sensation of anything and everything in his stomach came up without warning and he threw up onto the floor, a mix of the content of his stomach and blood. He coughed violently, but he willed himself to stand, and he stumbled, dizzy and still swirling with pain. He managed to get to the living room of the single floor, where the two of them slept, and where most of their camp was. Ethan uncomfortably sit down onto the carpet and grabbed the small first aid kit that was under the old couch.

He lifted up his bloody grey sweater and examined the cut, he was lucky, unbelievably lucky. He didn't much remember getting stabbed, but his thick sweater had stopped the knife just enough that he didn't die while he was passed out on the floor. He winced as he moved, Ethan looked at the wound in the small mirror they had in the room. It didn't look too deep but--then a gruesome thought entered his mind; He knew he would most likely need _stitches _...Fuck.  
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh shit." Ethan looked over, to a small box of sewing supplies that sat next to the couch and their mattress.  
"Okay Ethan, you can do this, you can do this. Ohhh fuck okay" Ethan's voice trembled as he thought of the idea of literally stitching himself up, but he knew if he didn't, he would continue bleeding, and would almost 100% die from the wound. He shimmed his body over and he took hold of the box and set it down between his legs, popping off the lid and staring at the mirid of needles and thread. Ethan unzipped the first aid kit and took and alcohol wipe and ran it around the rim of the injury, though it stung, he knew that wasn't the worst of it __

__He took a sewing needle in one of his shaky hands and wiped it down with one of the alcohol wipes and taking the spool of plastic nylon thread from the tin and cutting a long piece and threading in through the eye. Again he wiped it down with the alcohol pad.  
"Breathe Ethan, breathe. Fuck Okay" Ethan nodded, as he placed his hand on his side and the other held the needle as he tried not to think about what was actually happening  
"Okay, yeah. Don't want to bleed to death"  
He pushed the needle through the edge of the cut, and as he had to try his damnedest not to scream, he held his mouth as tightly closed as he could, in an attempt to quell his yelling, but a choked cry still slipped out, the same painful process repeated as he kept going, further stitching up the cut. Each time, he struggled to keep himself quiet. Finally the last stitch was done and quickly cut the string and threw the leftover string and needle to the side. He was done, but he still needed to cover his messy patchwork. Ethan's hands shook as he reached for a roll of bandages and medical tape. His face was red, and tears now streamed down his cheeks as he took a small length of gauze and used the medical tape to securely keep them over the roughly four-inch cut in his side. Still, the violent sting persisted as he wrapped the bandages around his lower torso and clipped it in place with the small metal clamps that were with them. He stood, putting the still bloody sweater back over himself, as he walked, the sting was still there.  
"Holy shit, at least I'm not dead yet so that s a plus" Ethan chuckled, as he walked around looked to see if there were any painkillers of any kind in the house__

He looked for a while, searching around for the pain meds he and Mika at stashed in the bathroom.  
Ethan, after finding a small bottle of pain meds, and downed a few of the pills and grabbed his stuff, like his gun, a black 12 gauge he had stolen from an abandoned truck and walked outside, the streets were almost completely empty. Apart from a couple of small animals that skittered around the roads. He stepped out into the afternoon sunlight, gun in hand and his bag on his shoulders. He couldn't remember much from the actual attack, but what he did remember was the face of the guy who beat the shit out of him. He was quite taller and had dark brown hair, not much darker than his own, he was a tall wide build guy, his hair short. He almost looked like Luke from TWD games. Ethan remembered him being called Miles the entire time, so, what he had to go on was, an old green Camry, a tall guy with brown hair, and the name Miles. Fuck...

While he was on the floor, he guessed the most likely went east, so, he did just that, he started east.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this one too is short. but this also took me several days to write. I'll try and make them longer as a get further into the story.


	3. The Pair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean and Evelien, (hope I'm spelling it right) had fled to the outside of the city, and step up camp just outside the city by the freeway, picking up supplies from crashed cars, and bodies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry I've been gone for over an entire month. But I have been really depressed lately because of schoolwork, anyway, I'm back. I'll try to update this more. Anyway, hope you enjoy. Jesus, it's been forever. Also props to my homie Ana for writing that last paragraph

Sean and Evelien walked around the crashed and looted cars, picking up whatever they could as they walked. The air of early summer was thick, and a small wind flowed past as they walked, re-tracing their steps up the road back up to the city. They had found three people in those 40ish days, Eryn and Leon, who were siblings, and Otis, they stayed back to watch the camp while the other two went to town for supplies. The walk to the city was quiet, as they talked about everything and nothing while they walked. Everything had been insanely chaotic, as to be expected, but moments like this were nice, when it felt like the absolute insanity of everything disappeared, even if for just a few minutes. The walk was about an hour and a half, but it didn't feel like that, at this point, it felt like only 20 minutes. As they walked, they hopped over cars and balanced on road dividers.

"Almost there, just a mile or so more" Evelien laughed, still reeling slightly from something Sean had said  
"Okay good," He responded, softly laughed, but it quickly faded  
"Where do we go first? Just anywhere, to somewhere specific?" He asked, turning to Evelien, who was walking along one of the large concrete dividers on the road.  
"Just like last time Sean, anything useful, we take", she replied hopping down off of the concrete slab, her gaze moving up to meet his eyes.  
"Right, as _always _" he nodded, smiling at her, causing her to softly giggle__

They walked through the city streets, most buildings had been completely boarded up, or had been looted already. It didn't take long for them to find Psychos, even after almost a month and a half of this bullshit, it still scared the shit out of them. Sean though quickly dealt with it, using the long black switchblade he had in his pocket to stab the Psycho in the throat, making it bleed out quickly.  
"Well, that's taken care of," He said quietly with a small smile, Evelien smiled and rolled her eyes as they kept walking. Soon the couple came upon a small one-story house, the outside was a dark greenish-blue and had a black door, that was wide open.

"Woah, this place if fucking trashed," Sean remarked as he peered into the house, the smell of metal filling the air. Inside the building, books and other items were strewn about the home. As they walked further, they found a blood trail and footprints that lead outside and a large bloodstain and smeared marks across the floor, long story short, there was a lot of blood, and it was everywhere, a good litre and a half of it.  
"Holy, shit...that, is a lot of blood," Evelien said, her voice quiet as she walked closer to the dark crimson-brown trail. Bloody handprints dotted the floor and furniture.  
"Well, something happened here, and it sure as hell wasn't good," Sean added as he continued through the house  
"Yeah, my god"  
"Not anything we haven't seen before I guess"  
"C'mon, I don't wanna stay here any longer than needed," Evelien commented as she began to search around. As Sean walked through the dimly lit building, he found a small trap door in the floor. It was tucked away beyond the bar in the corner of the living room, he pulled the switchblade. Sean crouched next to the door  
"Eveline, can you help me?" He asked, gesturing to the floor, she nodded and came over.  
"Sure yeah"  
"Can you get ready to shoot if anything comes out of here?" Sean asked again, pointing his knife at the door. Eveline nodded and took a few steps back, her handgun drawn. In a quick motion, Sean pulled open the heavy door to reveal a small dark cellar, thankfully, it was pretty much empty so Sean climbed out of the cellar and shut the small door behind him. 

"Nothing, nothing useful anyway," He said with a sigh as he dusted off his pants.  
"Shit," Eveline responded with gritted teeth, as she walked back into the small living room. The room had two couches, they were a dark grey colour and one sat against the right-most wall of the room, the other was sat in front of the coffee table. On the floor, was a smeary blood trail, that led across the floor and handprints on both couches. The room was a total mess, next to the table was a mattress, and the bedding was strewn around the floor.  
"You think they're still alive?" Sean commented as he walked up to her, she was kneeling down and started examining the room.  
"Not sure, that's a lot of blood for somebody to lose" "Might be from more that one person" He added, gesturing to the small drops on the floor  
"You got a point there," Eveline replied. They looked around more but to no avail. The back door was open, and outside was a small backyard, the grass was overgrown and an old swing set sat untouched in the back. The metal was rusted, which meant that it hadn't been touch in a long time, a lot longer than 42 days. The loud sound of a truck pulling up roared and a green Camry came into view through the front windows of the house. 

"Fuck, Sean!" Eveline called quietly, quickly he turned his head and saw the car come to a stop and several people begin to step out  


"Shit," He responded "C'mon!" Sean added, pulling the Winchester rifle off his back and quietly walked out of the backdoor with Eveline, pointing the rifle toward the front door. The men now out of the car held guns or there own. The biggest was a man with dark brown hair, his head shaved and he held an assault rifle. 

"Who the fucks in here? Thought we wouldn't come back to get you?" He hollered, as he turned now, seeing the two stood there. Sean and Eveline were outside now, facing the open back door. They stood static in the tall unkempt grass, frozen as the group looked at them.

"Hello looky here, couple-a stragglers" He taunted, as he lifted the heavy gun. Staring down the barrel of an assault rifle, Sean had to think fast, he knew that they needed to get the fuck out of there.  
"H-Hey, look just let us be, we don't want any trouble OK?" Eveline said, a small shudder as she spoke. The man shot her a look, staring them down still. Sean looked to his right. Through the grass and trees was a small space between a couple of trees to the alleyway behind the house. Sean still had his gun trained on the man, he took a deep breath. The man took a small step forward, causing Sean to react and put the shaky plan into action. He fired the gun, shooting the man in front of them. He, still holding Eveline's hand, ran. 

He pulled her behind him as he ran through the grass and trees. The sounds of gunshots, shouting behind them, and the gravel crunching under their feet. They ran down the gravel alleyway, only just getting away, thank god they had shitty aim. The two of them ducked into an old warehouse and saw the green Camry drive past the building going east. Now, they needed time to get back to camp because they knew those gunshots were definitely bad news in terms of Psychos. They took a moment to calm themselves down, Eveline resting her head on Sean's shoulder and she took in a shaky breath, feeling his arms wrap around her and pull her closer against his body. 

"Y'know that was a really stupid idea" She whispered  
"Yeah, but it worked didn't it?" He responded with a light chuckle  
"Fair enough" Eveline smiled as she shifted her body, getting up onto her knees and peering out of the hole in the wall they had slid in through.  
"Seems clear, c'mon we need to get back to camp. Psychos are 100% inbound." And with that, the two of them left and started back out of the city. The rest of the walk back was a bit too quiet as they walked to back to the camp they heard rustling in the bushes Eveline grabbed sean hand and hold it tight showing a bit of fear. Sean rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand gently as they backed up slightly. He slowly pulled the knife from his front pocket, flicking out the blade, out of the bushes sprang a small cat, it had long white hair and a black patch on its face and paws. They both let out a sharp breath as the cat ran past them, jumping back into the bushes of the other side of the path. 

"Ok, just a cat. Jesus Christ" Sean exhaled, putting the knife back into his pants pocket, and loosened his grip.


	4. The Siblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two siblings, Eryn and Leon go to L.A in the beginning days to find their friends Charlie and Andy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, back again, quite a while after I updated this. If you were wondering, 'Eryn' is pronounced as 'Erin or Aaron', didn't entirely beta read so sorry if we have some mistakes. Also, forgot to mention this, but seeing as I thoroughly enjoy TWD, and other apocalypse, media? (ie; Shawn of the Dead, Train to Busan, etc) there's gonna be some (a lot) references to them okie bye enjoy :)

Eryn and Leon sat in silence as she drove. The long stretch of highway was clear, apart from the few abandoned cars that littered the sides of the pavement. Leon had his head pretty much shaved, his hair was dark and his brown eyes were surrounded by almost completely blackened blood. It cracked and felt like dried egg white stuck to his skin, uncomfortably sticky still. Eryn’s shirt was almost completely drenched with the same black fluid that covered her younger brother. It was smeared across her face, and it made her strawberry blonde hair appear a deep red colour. Their clothes were stiff and made a crunching sound when they moved around. They drove closer to L.A, and smoke rose from parts of the city streets. When the outbreak began, riots tore bigger cities to pieces, or at least as much as they could before everyone got infected and became deadites, as Eryn and Leon called them. 

"Leon?” Eryn asked, her eyes flicking towards him, but nothing came from the 16-year-old. “Bud?” She asked again, eyes again flicking to him for only a moment or two  
“Don’t fucking Bud me E!” Leon snapped.  
“How the hell do you expect me to react right now?!” He continued, his voice rising in pitch as he yelled.

“Don’t yell at me, Lee! I’m just trying to fucking talk to you! I’m not asking how you are Lee, I’m trying to get you to talk!” Eryn replied  
“And watch your fucking mouth!” She added through clenched teeth  
“The world’s ending, why do you care if I curse?! And why are we even going to back L.A anyway?!” Leon argued back

“I said it when we left, we have family there, and there are supplies and a supposed safe zone near there!” She said, gesturing out the windshield towards the city

“You and I both know the ‘Safe Zone’ Is complete bullshit!” He argued again, putting heavy sarcasm into the way he said safe zone.

“Well, you never know!” Eryn said snapping back at him  
“You sure? That it’s real. Not just another failed attempt to get this under control?” Leon insisted

“These aren’t the slow assholes like Walkers dude, they’re fast like twenty-eight days later E, please, we both know that this shit is real. People died in the riots, now we just have even more deadites” He added

“I know, but we have a chance to be safe! It’s the army, the u.s is one of the most armed countries in the world” Eryn urged

“Do you think that a camp could withstand a heard of those dead fucks?”  
“Lee! I said watch your damn mouth! And I think they could handle it yes”  
“Why do you care if I curse E, it’s the apocalypse!”  
“Because you’re sixteen Lee!”  
“Yeah, and who knows if I’m even gonna see past sixteen!”  
“Don’t say that! And I don’t care! You know Mom would kill you if she heard you swear” She said a small laugh going along with her statement

“She’s dead E, what does she care? She’s gone so why the hell would she give a shit?” Leon protested. All Eryn could do was groan and let it go, she knew her baby brother would just keep arguing with her.

The rest of the highway ride was silent until they reached the freeway right outside of the city and before them was what could only be described as chaos. They had thought the riots stopped, but they hadn’t even slowed down. Even near the edges of the city, absolute madness. They had passed San Fernando and were on the Hollywood freeway, the sky almost looked red in the mid-evening sun, the smoke in the air, filling the darkening sky.

"Holy shit E" Leon murmured, leaning forward closer to the windshield, staring out at the sky.  
"That's damn right, Jesus…" They were both in awe at the state of the city.  
"Where are we going E?" Leon asked, fear in his voice and eyes.  
"To find Charlie, and Andy, and get to the safe zone, if it's still there." Eryn swallowed.  
"What if we can't find them? What if they died in the riots? A lot of people did" He questioned  
"Then we keep going, You gotta look on the bright side once in a while. We may be fucked right now but the least you could do is see the good." Eryn snorted. Leon slumped back in his seat, giving in to his older sister.

Back when the world was normal, Leon quite enjoyed trips to the city. He liked seeing the palm trees and high rises made him feel less inadequate in the world. Like he was famous or something. Now it was painfully different, it was dreary and dark, and an overwhelming sense of unease engulfed Leon as they drove closer to eastern L.A.

“This is, so fucked--”  
“Leon, just, nevermind. Agreed, this is so fucked up oh my god...” Eryn murmured in agreement. All Eryn could do was hope that Charlie and Andy were still alive, the city was in ruins, and she just needed them to be okay. She knew that Leon couldn’t lose anyone else, after Mom died, he just kind of went silent, and was almost hostile ever since. The street was full of people screaming and yelling. Others were hastily fighting back deadites, and Eryn couldn’t tell the difference between the living and the undead.

“C’mon let’s hurry up” Leon insisted, his voice broke and his eyes build a bright shine as he watched the mayhem. Eryn quicked gave the gas a small punch, and the car lurched forward but stopped quickly. They couldn’t drive anymore, the road was full of abandoned cars and hysteria.

“Lee we need to get out of the car…” Eryn said quietly, realizing that they would have to risk making a run for it, and booking it to Charlie and Andy’s house as fast as they could.

“What?! Are you crazy Eryn?” Lee of squeaked. His voice cracked again, no, it fractured and faltered. His eyes were watery and his face was morphed with fear.

“We need to go, Lee, the car isn’t gonna move”  
“No! Just try again! Please-” Leon’s words were interrupted by a woman ramming her body against the car, slamming her hands against his window. She left bloody, smeared handprints across the glass as she unintelligibly screamed something at them.

“Holy shit!” Eryn yelled lurching the car forwards again, this time she didn’t stop, she swerved the car around the road, narrowly missing people. As she, in a panic and fearful drove off, the horrible feeling of a body being hit almost square in the middle of the hood, rattled through the black El Camino, and the car slid to a stop again.

“Lee grab your shit we gotta go, now” Eryn’s face was red, and tears ran quickly down her face as he haphazardly gathered her bag and other loose belongings, shoving them into he bag. Leon didn’t hesitate in snatching his canvas backpack from where it sat between his feet and jump from the car with Eryn. He vaulted himself onto the hood and slid across it. Eryn took his hand and they began to run, he pulled him along as the raced through the street.

Suddenly Leon was yanked from Eryn’s grasp and a scream took his place. She spun around to see that a deadite, had grabbed onto him and had him by the arm. It’s upper body stuck out of the passenger seat of a nearby car. Leon struggled against it, but he wasn’t strong enough and was almost pulled into the car.

“Eryn! Get off of me!”  
“Lee!” Eryn yelled, wrapping her arm around his body and hauled him from its hands.

Four blocks...Eryn held a tight, white-knuckled grip on her brother’s hand and they didn’t stop.

Three blocks...Leon’s legs and lungs burned under the pressure and Eryn’s heart was going a million miles a minute.

Two blocks...The apartment building came into view, it’s old red brick exterior almost shone in the rat’s nest they found themselves in. Outside on the street in front of the building was a familiar red Camero drove by Andy.

One block...please, we have to make it, rang in Eryn’s mind as the grew ever closer to the only safe haven they could get too.

They came to a frantic stop at the glass doors, which were open and bloody fingerprints lined the handle and outer edges. Eryn and Leon swung their bodies into the doorway and began making their way towards Charlie and Andy’s apartment. People yelled and hastily packed their things in the blood-spattered hallway.

“Charlie?! Andy!” Eryn called into the continuing anarchy.  
“Charlie!!” Leon yelled, pointing down the long hall. Lo and behold, there stood Charlie, he wore a white tee-shirt and blue jeans, though both had bright red blood stains across them.

“Oh my god…” Eryn mumbled, letting go of Leon’s hand and running to Charlie. His body was rigid, and his face was wet with tears. He had dark blackish hair that grew a little below his shoulders, and his hands shook as he wrapped tight arms around Eryn.

“I thought you were dead E” Charlie whispered “They said Bakersfield pretty much went up in flames” He added

“Where’s Andy?” Leon asked  
“I don’t know, I lost track of him a day or so ago. Tried to find him” “Got nothing” Leons face fall and Eryn bit her lip to push down a sob.

“We need to go” Charlie muttered, pulling his body from Eryn’s and leading the two inside.


	5. The Searcher (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan's journey to rescue Mika brings him a possible new companion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is kinda short btw

Seventy-Three days, just shy of 3 months, doesn’t sound like a long time but, it felt like forever. The night was cold, and Ethan sat alone in some kids treehouse. The door was a vertical latch door; it was quite small, just big enough for a kid to fit through, and himself, of course. The slats on the board roof let only a little moonlight into the small structure. The air was humid, and it felt thick. He lay on his back, in immense pain, that day he was pretty sure he had ripped out one of his stitches, causing a fresh bloodstain on his sweater.

He had dreamt of Mika that night before he woke up again. It was a strange dream, but it wasn't bad. He just pictured sitting with her, they were in the treehouse, and she had her feet hanging over the side. Mika wore her Darry shirt, the one she was wearing that day, the day of Mika’s kidnapping. He couldn't remember what else she wore, just the grey Darry shirt. She smiled sweetly and looked at him.

"I love your smile. Have I ever told you that?" She laughed. When he woke the emptiness that he sat in hurt so much, he wasn't going to give up. He couldn't. 

"I'm gonna kill them all..." Ethan swore, thinking back to that day. Anger bubbled in his stomach as he thought about them.

"See how you like being stabbed in the gut, Miles" He hissed before lying back down on the hard wooden floor, tears running down his face. So much was going through his head. He was angry, afraid, and lost. He felt overwhelmed, and honestly, a part of him wanted to give up. He was lying on the floor for god knows how long, just staring up at the ceiling and thinking. His mind wandered, thoughts came in and out. He remembered everything about life before this chaos, dates they had, holidays, just ordinary days. Eventually, Ethan fell asleep again, the same dream as before, he and Mika just sat in the treehouse. As morning came, the warm summer sun of mid-July streaked through the ceiling. 

He sat up, groggy and tired, he hadn’t slept long, or well, but at least he slept. The bright sun was blinding for a couple minutes. Ethan sat with his feet hanging and his gun in his lap, staring out east. It was now or never, he knew he could turn back, but Mika was all he had left. His parents and brother back in Maine were dead, Ethan lost his friends, and now he threatened to lose her too. What did he have to lose after her? His sanity? His life? If he was honest, he didn’t have much of either left. 

He took a breath as he grabbed his bag and climbed down the branches of the tree, and around the old tire swing that hung from it. He stumbled through the yard, walking through the open sliding glass door. On the kitchen floor was a dead psycho, it’s head, beaten in, and it had severely rotted. Dark almost-black fluid ran from its nose and mouth and pooled under it. He walked out the front of the small building and into the street. Off east, Ethan went as the pain faded, and determination fueled him.

…

He stayed going east, he still didn’t have much to go on, but hell, it was better than nothing. If he was honest, he was probably going to die trying, more doubt, Ethan took a breath, his hand shook, and he felt the sting come back. The twinge of pain came more aggressively now, and he could barely think straight. Stumbling down the road, and still forging on going east. He knew his wound had reopened, and that he couldn’t risk it getting infected. More blood seeped into the fabric of his clothing and beginning to run down his leg.

“Fuck…” He was out of breath and needed to make sure it wouldn’t get infected, he was slow, and only had a few shells left. There was no way he was able to swing his gun like a bat if he ran out of bullets. It was pretty early in the day, the sun was just still peeking over the trees, and sent a cascade of bright light streaking through the trees. While he walked, he couldn’t put much weight on his right leg because of his injury, making him limp. 

“I feel like Jack Torrence, Jesus.” 

He walked a little further until he came across an abandoned drug store. He was so fucking done with just all of this. It was just annoying currently. He got himself ready for a fight because changes were, he was about to get into one. 'use the knife, guns are loud' he thought, again and again. He knew his shotgun was loud and would attract more psychos. He just hoped he could use his knife. 

He drew closer, and moved as quietly as possible, trying not to drag his leg. Ethan slowly peered around the corner of the small intersection, before painfully making his way across the road, forcing himself not to limp. The front window had was almost entirely broken, and a large wooden shelf had been moved in front of it, though Ethan was still able practically silently slip his small frame in between the tiny space as he popped himself into the little store. It was almost pitch black, apart from the daylight that filtered through the gaps in the barricades. The place looked abandoned and ransacked.

"Well shit...hope, there’s something useful in here because boy I'm in pain," he muttered to himself as he crept around the darkness. He pulled the long hunting knife from his belt, and snuck about, looking for anything to ease the pain in his side. 

From within the store, he could hear something, just gentle breaths and the occasional step or two. He felt so on edge, but he knew he had fast reflexes, and that he would probably be able to get the hell out of there if he had to. 

He began to quietly root through drawers and shelves. Thankfully, behind the desk, was a bottle of alcohol.

"Well, it'll hurt like hell, but I won't die at least," he said aloud quickly, stuffing the bottle into his bag.  
…

Otis walked, his young son Gavin held in his arms against his chest. The boy was about 11, and fast asleep in his father's arms. The sticky-hot air around them was like wading through a pool of water it felt so thick. Gavin had black hair like his dad, his short bangs stuck to his forehead, and his breaths laboured his father lumbered down their route. Otis wasn’t sure if what he saw in the distance was real or not, he’d been walking for god knows how long. An ungodly amount of time, at this point his legs felt like tv static, but they still moved on what little muscle memory they had left. In the distance, he could see a figure walking, the familiar heat ripples distorting it... 


	6. The Prisoner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mika finds herself in a storage closet, all too close to her kidnappers, and sparks a new friendship with a girl and her sister

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the latter half of this to the 'Walk Like a Badass' playlist on Spotify, if you're into some heavy beats, highly recommend

Mika awoke, her wrists bound to her knees and her ankles tied together, and a rag-knot in her mouth. Her hair, cut in a bob and the green steadily fading, was slick-wet, clinging to her skin. She shook the fog from her brain as her eyes adjusted to the darkness all around her. Mika was locked in a small storage closet, no bigger than two or three gym lockers put together, under the door came a small streak of light, and the sounds of people talking and the crackle of a bonfire. She could vividly remember what happened, the day these greasy, no good, rapist sons of bitches had taken her hostage, assaulted her and most likely murdered Ethan, or left him to die. Mika had only been there, maybe a day, she didn’t know what time it was, but judging by how cold she was, Mika knew she could safely assume it was late. She couldn’t stand, since the legs were affixed in a knee-to-chest position. She was barefoot and thankfully still intact and in one piece, even though her whole body ached.

Mika and Ethan had met people like this before, horrible people, people who would do anything and everything to please their own goals, those who would off you and your friends simply because they felt like you didn’t belong. Mika had seen men like this her whole life, and she knew what would inevitably happen if she didn’t get out of there now. Mika got the gag out of her mouth, pushing the foul-tasting cloth ball away with her tongue. She awkwardly rolled and tightly yanked her legs closer to her torso. Hunching her body forward until she felt something jab at her hip. 

“Yes, thank god” She whispered, what she felt was a small pocket knife she had sewn into the hem of her pants, she squirmed and wiggled uncomfortably, straining her legs closer to her torso, until her restraints loosed enough for her to slide the knife from her waistband. Before she could flick open the knife, she hadn’t realized the footsteps that grew closer to the locked door before her. She only noticed them when the handle began to jiggle and a loud, and commanding voice shouted into the door

“You better keep yourself quiet in there, little lady, or you’re gonna regret it!” His voice sounded familiar, it had a thick southern accent, Fox, the tall, very southern blonde one. Mika jumped, the knife clattering to the hard concrete floor, the bright red plastic cracking harshly on impact. The shiny chrome blade popped out, the tip nicking Mika's thigh, causing her to silently whine. 

“You hear me you little bitch?!” But thankfully, with a swift kick to the door, he left, leaving Mika tense, and she began moving very slowly. She desperately reached for the now sharp handle of the blade. 

“I gotta get my ass outta here, who knows what’ll happen if I don’t” She quietly muttered, finally gripping her hand around the pocket knife. The pointed plastic, digging into the soft skin of her palm, making small papercut-like slices in it. Mika slipped the knife between her fingers and slowly began sawing at the tightly wound yellow rope that was still binding her limbs in place. The flat edge of the blade slowly cut through the plastic fibres that were rubbing her wrists raw,  
‘ah yes, rope burn, how wonderful’ Mika thought. Quickly, with a soft and satisfying snap, the rope flung away from the skin. Intense relief washed over her as the raw sting of the plastic freed her arms and legs. Mika quickly scrambled to her feet, and still white-knuckling the blade, blood slipped into the cracks on the knives already crimson plastic. Soon another set of pounding and angry footsteps came to the door. Mika pressed her body flush against the cold concrete wall as Fox again yelled and banged on the door.

"I said to shut yourself up, missy!" Mika had counted, four guys, plus two others she had seen on the way in. They, presumably two other women, had been, meekly sitting alone together. Fox left a second time, as she racked her tired brain to remember them. There was Fox, the tall blonde one, Miles, the one who stabbed Ethan, and the leader. The third one, he was broad and had a mop of dark curls tucked under a red beanie, and Theo, who looked vaguely Hispanic the one who grabbed her and held her back. Mika took a deep breath and stared out the thin space between the door and frame. A dim firelight illuminated the room, around a small fire was the same four guys, and just behind them, the two women sat alone. She could just barely hear them talking, but only bits and pieces, unable to tell who was saying what.

“What d--we--with her?”  
“I don’--”

Mika strained her ears, desperately trying to focus on what they were talking about, but gave up soon after. They had taken her stuff, her bag, gun, phone, although her phone was useless. Hell, they stole her shoes and Darry shirt, which if she was being honest, she was pissed they took it. She searched around the open space that was in view, there was her bag, still closed and leaning against a table. The cactus coloured canvas bag was old but had pretty much all her stuff in it, photos, knives, all the belongings she could cram into it when it all started. Mika knew she only had one chance to get her bag, if she messed up, she was dead. The lock on the closet had been put on backwards, so the twist-lock was on the outside, and the keyhole was on her side. 

She took a breath and jammed the knife into the keyhole, she knew she couldn't pick it, but that they would take her out of the closet soon enough. Mika went from twisting the knife, to just stabbing the lock, creating a loud metallic sound.

"Oh for fucks sake Fox!" After hearing that, she again pushed her body against the wall and readied herself for a fight. She might die, but hey she'd rather die with her dignity than live without it. It only took a second or so, before Theo swung open the flimsy door and stepped inside. 

"Take this you greasy bastard!" Mika yelled through clenched teeth, before plunging the small pocket knife into his throat. Theo sputtered for a moment or two, gasping for breath, but all he got in return was blood. She quickly yanked out the knife, a spray ran over her face, but she didn't notice, swinging her body around the door frame and she began running, but not before spitting over Theo's body. She slid into a small space between large storage boxes, that had been from whatever the building had been previously used for, Mika held her breath and kept as still as she could as Miles and the unnamed one ran in two different directions, Miles going outside and the other one running into a further room. "Just Fox now" She whispered, climbing out of hiding and making her way to the empty doorway.

"Where are you going Bunny?" Fox called out from not even feet away.

"Scaaaaaaared Bunny? You better be!" His voice was gravely and with an intense southern accent. She could just see the barrel of a rifle poking out, if she was able to grab it, maybe she could stab him. Mika leaped forward, putting all her weight in her hands, gripping the shaft and pulling on it as hard as she could. A shot went off, two, three, as they wrestled for the gun. Mika lodged the small knife into Fox's shoulder, ripping the gun from his hands. 

With an unpleasant squelch, Fox pulled the small blade from his arm, blood soaking his grey Led Zeppelin T-shirt. Fox Lamey tossed the knife to the floor in front of Mika.

"Nice work Bunny. But don't you worry, you gon die they ain-!" Without an ounce of hesitation, she fired the gun off, silencing Fox with a quick shot to the forehead. His body quickly became limp and fell to the concrete floor. Almost eminently after the shot went off, the familiar cold feeling of a gun barrel was being pressed against her head. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on the rifle's wood and resin handle. Miles and his friend ran through the door, stopping to look for a moment at Fox's body.

"Did a damn good job little miss" Miles laughed, stepping over Fox, leaving his buddy to kneel next to him, his chest jumped a couple times as he covered his mouth for a moment. 

“Oh c’mon Tyler, get up,” Miles said, annoyance in his voice, dragging him up by the forearm  
“You can be sad later, first we gotta deal with Bunny here,” He said, gesturing towards Mika. Tyler nodded and stared daggers at her, but Mika felt no sympathy towards the man. “Would you look at that Ty! Told you givin’ ol’ Blondie there, that gun was a good idea!” Miles laughed. He went to reach for Fox’s gun which was still firmly affixed in Mika's grip, she flinched slightly. In response, ‘Blondie’ pressed the gun more harshly into Mika’s faded hair. Loosening her grip, Miles quickly snatched the gun from her hands and examined it. 

“Blondie, Tyler, tied her back up to that chair over there,” Miles said, vaguely nodding to the back of the storage room.  
“Gotta go deal with all the damn Skin Eaters outside now” Miles mumbled before frustratedly walking off.

-

Mika was tied to an office chair that had had its wheels cut off of it, and a piece of duct tape put on her mouth. The girl nicknamed Blondie by Miles had a silver chrome desert eagle trained on her for what seemed like hours. Tyler had left soon after tying her up to go deal with the ‘Skin Eaters’ along with Miles. After a while, the woman spoke, albeit quietly

“You know you’re real fucken brave, Miles must really like you” She chuckled slightly  
“Lucky he didn’t just straight up kill you on the spot. Hannah tried that, she got a hatched to the skull for her efforts. I got beat pretty bad last time I tried” Name’s Luci by the way, with an I” She added, putting the gun down in her lap.

“Want me to get that off for you?” Luci asked, but she didn’t really wait for an answer, pulling off the tape, along with some of Mika’s hair. Mika stayed silent for a moment, not speaking at all.

“I ain’t ever heard you talk, not even when you got here. Hannah wouldn’t shut up, maybe why they didn’t like her that much”  
“Why’d you let them catch me?” Mika asked, her tone was painfully blunt, shooting somewhat of a death-glare at Luci

“Like Fox said, they would have killed me, and caught you…” She responded sadly  
“So this is better? Getting raped and ordered around?”  
“I’ve done worse to stay alive...Bunn--”  
“My names Mika,” She said quickly  
“Okay, Mika, I’ve done worse to keep my life, had worse done to me so I could keep going”  
“I get it Luci...I’ve done some bad shit, definitely going to hell” Mika softly chuckled  
“I know you don’t want to do this...But if you do as they say--” The sound of the door slamming shut interrupted Luci, and she quickly slapped the tape back onto Mika’s face. Tyler silently walked in, just beyond her field of vision, Tyler paced back and forth.

“He’s pacing…” Luci quietly commented, Mika looked up in surprise at that, raising her eyebrows. It didn’t last long, Miles’s voice came and Ty snapped out of it. The two of them began hauling Theo and Fox’s bodies away, the faint sound of clanking shovels could be heard.

“I’m getting out of here…someday,” Luci said pulling off the tape once again  
“That really hurts my lips, damn” Mika muttered “I don’t intend on someday, I intend on soon” she added.  
“The others will be back soon, I guess by others I mean Rei and Paul, and they don’t fit the whole, ‘others’ thing” Luci laughed  
“I saw someone else here with you, before I, you know stabbed the lock” “Who was that?”  
“Delta, my sister, she’s hiding”  
“How old is she?” Mika asked  
“Fifteen, I’m twenty,” Luci said

73 days had passed since the world got fucked, and Mika had been with these people only four of those days, it was horrible, but she’d since met Delta. Herself, Luci and Delta had begun planning how to escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just wanted to add at the end of this chapter, when we revisit Mika's pov, there will be some TW content like rape and other not great stuff, so read at your own discretion, quick heads up


	7. Safe Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark, Sean and Eveline, get back to the camp. Welcoming Mark into their shabby little safe place, Mark begins to make some friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, hey, how y'all doin'? sorry I was gone for so long 👉🏻👈🏻 sorry this chapter is short, had some motivation issues:))

Mark still didn't fully trust these people, but hell, he didn't really care. The three of them made their way back to Mark's car after looking around a little more, so he could grab his stuff, and Chica, he couldn't drive the thing anyway, the gas had run out and Mark had no clue in hell out so siphon gas. The walk back was a little awkward at first, but they talked after a bit of silence between them.

"What'd you say your name was again?" Evelin asked  
"Mark," He said with a smile. "Eveline and Sean correct?"  
"Yep," Eveline nodded. "By the way, why were you still in the city?" She asked, her arms were outstretched and she carefully walked along the concrete barriers. 

"I-uh, Look, Looking for someone" "Friend" Mark stuttered a bit as he spoke, repeating a couple of words.  
"If you don't mind me asking, who?" Sean said  
"No, No it's fine. Just a friend, name’s Tyler..."  
"Why'd you help us? I know I already asked but...why?" Eveline asked  
"Just, want to help, don’t want more psychos to deal with you know” Again, Mark weakly laughed.

Mark was just drained, not physically, but he felt like everything was constantly changing places. Too fast, too slow, everything felt out of whack since he lost Tyler and Amy died. He felt like a planet out of orbit, the gravity in his life was long gone and he had to adjust to something he’d never felt. Crippling loneliness, he’s been depressed before, back in college, but he’d never felt this. He shook it off as best he could, but he couldn’t help his eyes again getting all glassy. His head felt blurry like it was full of water.

The weather was thankfully cooling down a little, what was it? September? August? None of them could really remember. 90 days without a calendar will do that. Soon after Mark's mind clouded over, they came to the famed camp, just a couple of tents and a car, but hell, it was better than sleeping--

“What’s your dog's name?” Sean's words snapped Mark out of his trance, his head shot up.  
Chica” Mark replied, giving Chica’s head a rub, to which she stuck her tongue out at, happily. 

“Hey, Sean?” Ev called from a little ways away  
“Come with me, we’ll get you introduced soon,” Sean said, before turning away to where Ev had been calling from. Mark quickly followed behind, Chica close by, she’d never been one for new places. Inside the make-shift fence they'd built, the tents and a couple of people sat, one of them, a man with dark hair and a beard, flecks of grey hair stood out. He seemed to eye him a little bit, his stature was like Marks, though he was hunched over with his elbows on his knees. 

Mark did his best to ignore him and follow Sean. 

“Could you help me move this babe?” Eveline was crouched and was in the process of moving a couple of psychos off of the fence.  
“Course,” Sean said, Mark stood for a moment, before kneeling down to hug Chica, who was a little shaken up. 

"Hey, it's okay. It'll be okay Chica Beaka" He scratched her ears, shaking them back and forth.

Ev and he finished up and the three of them walked back around the rickety barricade and into the camp. A familiar feeling bubbled in Mark's stomach, anxiety, wonderful. 

"Charlie?" Ev said, giving him a tap on the shoulder. He looked up, and Ev said nothing, just nodding back to the car.

At the jeep that sat off to the right, stood Sean and Mark.

"Hey, names Charlie" He said, hold his hand out.  
"Mark, that's Chica" The two shook hands, a wave of uncomfortable silence came and they stood for a moment before heading back to where Charlie sat with Eryn and Leo. 

"Got a new member to the clan" Charlie laughed as he sat down with Mark along side Eryn and her brother.


	8. First Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mika and Tyler are surfing radio signals and find a friend, Otis...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyo :)

Mika spent the following days being as defiant as possible, malicious compliance. She and Luci were protective of Delta, she hid in an empty space in the wall. They didn't know entirely how they were gonna escape but by god they were doing it.

Mika didn't know if she was to completely trust Luci and Delta but, they were her only way out.

Mika lost count of how many days she'd been there, maybe 5 days? And every one of those days was hell, but if malicious compliance meant she'd get out alive, then so be it. That day came, and Mika had been slowly hiding food in Deltas wall space so that they would have some when they escaped. Tyler had been trying to help as much as he could while putting up the facade with Miles. 

"Delta, Delta! Where are you?" Luci whispered into the wall hole.

"Over here, I got the food" Came her gentle voice from inside the darkness. Delta suddenly materialized from the hole and popped out, dropping the bag just out of view from the outside the hole. Delta's hair was long and dyed a faded sapphire blue. The girl stood at about 5'5", her pointed nose, slightly crooked teeth, and bright green eyes were so different from her sister Luci.

Luci was almost 6' and had pale blonde hair and poker straight teeth, and a twice broken nose. Luci's arms and upper thighs were littered with faded pink and white scars, while Delta was near untouched, only scars from falling off her bicycle as a little kid, or burns from cooking.

"C'mon" Luci said, wrapping her arms around her younger sister.

"I love you so much babes" Luci said, her chin resting firmly on top of her head.

"Love you too Luce" 

In the other room, Tyler and Mika sat scanning the radio, flipping through empty signals. Nothing but static on each one.  
As they flipped through, saying hello, and praying someone would respond. A single sound caught their ears after a while.

"Woah woah, stop I heard something!" Mika said, flicking back to their previous channel. The muffled voice of a man came over. 

"Gav-n don't do tha-" This audio cut out every now and then but someone was there.

"You think the buttons stuck?" Tyler whispered 

"Not sure" Mika responded 

"Hello? Can you here me?" Tyler asked, an audible sound of suprise came over the radio.

"Holy shit! It wo--ed!" the mans voice said  
"We can hear you!" A second voice came, that of a maybe a young teenage boy.

"My names Tyler, this is Mika", "Hello" Mika added.

"I'm Ot-s. I'm with my so- Gavin"  
"Whe-- are you g-ys?" The teen said, Gavin.

"East L.A"  
"Dow-town" Otis said, his voice came scratchy and glitchy over the old radio.

"That's not that far" Tyler said quietly.  
"Who are you with?" Mika asked.

"It's ju-t me, my son, a-d a fri-nd"  
"That it?" Tyler confirmed  
"Yep, if you can help we'd appreci-te it, my frie--'s hurt pretty ba-"

"What happened? How bad is it?"  
"Says h- got st-bbed in a f-ght co--le days ago"

Otis was speechless, the old junker actually worked. Otis then remembered something, Mika, that name. It was Ethan's girlfriends name. 

"Mika!" Gavin said, running of to the old car they stole, where Ethan sat essentially cataloguing their stuff.

"Ethan!" Gavin said out of breath, swigging open the back driver door. Gavin was about 13, roughly 5'4" a deep voice for his age. Acne speckled his face along with brown freckles.

"Yeah?"  
"Mika!" Gavin said before pointing to Otis who was still talking over the radio 

"What?! How?" Ethan said scrambling out of the Cadillac.  
"On the radio! And Tyler!" 

"Holy fuck" Ethan said, limping over as fast as he could

"What going on Otis? Gavin said it's Mika?" 

"It is, listen!"  
"It i- list-n!" Otis's voice came over the radio

"Hello? You guys okay?" Tyler asked, worry in his voice 

"Oh my fuc-ing God" Ethans voice came weakly over the radio

"Is that your friend Otis?" Mika asked, not recognizing Ethans voice because of the poor signal 

"It's them" Ethan was on the verge of tears  
"It's re-ll- th-m" his now sobbing voice was just audible, and so was Gavin quietly comforting him

"It's who?" Mika said  
"It's me!" Ethan said, hiccups interrupting his words.

"Who is this I don't recognize your voi-" Mika stopped herself, and covered her mouth.

"Oh my god, Ethan?!" She said, turning to Tyler who was silent with shock.

"How are you alive? I saw him- You died…"

"I w-ke up a cou-le hours la-er" "Stitched myse-f up" 

Ethan was overjoyed, his eyes glassy and tears covered his face

"Tyler's here too" Mikas said over the radio  
"Eth-n, where are you?" Tyler asked

"Near skid row" Otis responded  
"Wh-ttier Boulevar-" Tyler responded


	9. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mika has a nightmare about her and Ethan getting attacked by Miles and his friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no notes for this one lol

The sound of a car pulling followed by yells was the first thing she remembered.

The world around Mika was warped, as if someone had fucked up the color settings on the universe.

"Whaddya know!" A gravely voice came, he sounded kind of like Joel, from tlou  
Mika held out her gun, a 22. Ethan next to her with his.

"You better leave now" Mika said with a straight face, though her eyes watered. She viewed everything like a movie, the view almost panned about, but within a certain area.

"And why is that little lady?" Miles said getting in her face. His teeth were exaggerated and comically crooked and yellowed

"Cause, you don't your buddies'll be gluing your skull back together"

"Big talk for such a little lady"  
"You should listen, she'll be spraying your brains everywhere if you keep that up" Ethan warned.

"Trust me, I'll take my chances" Miles said, lifting the corner of his shirt revealing a huge whole in his stomach 

"That's what you call an empty threat, and shitty aim" Miles added 

"Brave fella, talking all calm" "Had a lady with him, pretty thing, nice and tall" Another voice came, that of Fox.

"I'll kill you I swear to god" Mika said sternly, she felt like Sarah Connor.

"You looking for a shoot out?" Miles asked, a smile coming across his face

"Not particularly, but we're willing" Ethan said taking a step forward, he looked a bit different, his hair was shorter, and black. His vibe was a little off.

"As you wish" Miles laughed, showing his crooked yellowed teeth. In what felt like a second, Miles pulled out a knife and attempted to stab Mika, she fired her gun, and missed.

Ethan smacked Miles with the butt of his gun, Fox shot out, the bullet grazed Mikas arm, causing her to drop her 22. 

Miles regained his composure and buried the small knife into Ethans abdomen.

"Ethan! You son of a bitch" Mika yelled punching Miles in the face hard. In response he bashed her in the nose. Ethan writhed on the floor coughing and bleeding, his blood was a bright fire truck red.

The whole thing felt like a jump cut, to her being dragged away. Reality shifted and bent around her and she felt like the pressure shifted and suddenly she was back with Ethan, he rolled and bled in front of her but she couldn't do anything.

"No! You'll be okay I promise!" She cried out, she put her hands over his wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

Mika looked up and Ethan stared at her, his blood now black, he lifted his head, the black blood poured out of his mouth. He gurgled weakly, and spit out as much as he could.

"It'll be okay, I swear" She sobbed now and before she could help, he stopped moving and seemed to die.

Mika panicked, a choked noise came was she tried to breathe

She sat up violently in bed. A cold sweat ran over her, fast breath and racing heartbeat. Next to her Delta and Luci slept quietly, completely undisturbed by her panic. 

She choked down sobs for a couple minutes before lying back down. She couldn't sleep anymore, not after that. She cried quietly for a while after. She didn't know what to do, all she could do was hope to god, or whoever the hell was up there, that they would get out. She knew Ethan was alive but she was so scared. It didn't matter, he was alive right now. She was terrified it was only a dream, talking to him today. Mika shook and trembled. She needed to walk around a bit but she didn't want to wake Luci or Delta.

The three of them slept in a locked room, and one of the guys would be outside of it half the time anyway. Mika quietly stood and paced for a few minutes in her bare feet. The floor was cold, but she felt almost numb, she could only feel the fear and anxiety that talking to her boyfriend for the first time in nearly a week, was only a dream.

"He's not dead, you know that" She whispered to herself. 

"He's alive. You heard his voice" She knew it was ludicrous, but she thought if maybe it was somehow a recording.

"That's absurd Mika, he knew it was you" Mika was now sitting with her arms around her legs in her sleeping bag. She took a deep breath, and tried to stop herself from crying again. Mika opened her eyes to see Delta quietly looking at her with tired eyes.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Mika apologized  
"It's okay, don't worry. I wasn't even sleeping anyway" Delta's voice is somehow always so sweet. Despite the situation, and the trauma, she always stayed optimistic.

She eventually falls back asleep and thankfully doesn't dream anything afterwards.

Not long after she falls asleep, she's shaken awake my Luci, who’s frantic, and clearly she’s upset

“Mika, Mika get up”  
“What?”  
“Change of plans we need to go now, Skineaters” Luci shakes Mika from her daze and pulls the half-functional Mika up. She rattles the cobwebs from her mind and turns to Luci

“What happened?”  
“Gun fight, attracted every one of ‘em in 2 miles”  
“Fight with who?”  
“Miles and his buddies got jumped” “by some guys, one of them has a shotgun”  
“Fucking launched Paul into the exosphere with a jeep” Delta says, smashing the small (and only) window in the small room.

Delta climbed out the small space, taking Mikas hand. As Mika shimmied through the window, she scraped her skin against the sharp from the remaining glass. She also got a glimpse of the man driving the jeep…

Dark brown hair, shorter, maybe 5’7” ish.

Then it clicked,

“Ethan…?”


	10. Charles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Checking back in with w/ Eryn and her brother Leon just after the collapse of society, closing in on 2 weeks into the outbreak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So...I promise that the story will actually progress soon!! We are literally just going back in time to look at other characters but we'll go back to that 90 day mark soon I SWEAR lol

Charlie locked the rickety door behind them. He collapsed against it and sank to the floor. Charlie silently sobbed into his bloody hands, leaving marks on his skin.

"They said Bakersfield pretty was nothing but ash at this point." His muffled voice came quietly. He shot up and firmly hugged Leon. 

"We're here now Charlie" Eryn said "You're our brother, maybe not by blood, but you're our brother and I wouldn't leave you behind” Eryn reassured him. They sat on the floor for a while after, silent and not sure what to do next. Eryn knew that if they didn't leave soon they wouldn't have another chance any time soon. Leon sat with his headphones on, the power grid hadn't gone down quite yet but they all knew they didn't have much time left. Eryn took a breath, and tried to calm down, her mind was wondering and she was scared. 

The windows screen was broken, the frame was attached but the screen was broken through. Like something was thrown through it, and out the 4th story window. The remaining screen had been ripped out of the frame. Eryn peered out the window until something caught her eye…

On the pavement below, was something they hadn’t noticed before, something that made her realize that Charlie had lied, about what happened to Andy. Fear filled Eryn as she saw the large blood stain on the sidewalk. Like a person had jumped from the window, or was pushed out. Eryn assumed that you probably wouldn't die from falling that height, but it would sure as hell hurt. She turned away from the window, trying to come up with a better explanation. 

'What if he did lie?' She thought  
'What if he killed Andy?' Eryns head was going so fast, she didn't think of the possibility that Andy attacked Charlie. All that she was thinking was that Andy was probably dead. An intense anxiety washed over Eryn as she made eye contact with Charlie, she saw something click in his eyes, he knew she'd seen the blood on the ground. Eryn tried to push away the disturbing thought, the image of Andy on the ground. She took a breath and tried to calm down. 

~~~~~  
A few hours passed, eventually the chaos outside quieted.

"So what do we do now?" Leon asked  
"We get some sleep tonight, and leave in the morning," Eryn said, "If we stay too long we won't have much of a chance here," She continued.

"Why don't we stay for a while? We can gather some stuff from stores and shit" Charlie asked, "I literally have nothing useful in my apartment" He added

"He's got a point E" Leon chimed in. "We'd need better off with more supplies" 

Eryn looked towards the still red sky, a sea or warm colors mixed with clouds. 

"

Charlie shifted his weight to his other arm and immediately winced at the action. Pulling his arm close to his body, he grabbed his shoulder roughly, causing him to wince again.

"S'cuse me" He said suddenly, quickly standing.  
"You okay Charlie?" Eryn asked  
"Yeah, hurt my shoulder." He replied simply  
"Can I see it? I took first aid, if that means anything"  
"I'm okay Eryn, I just bruised it"  
"You sure, you don't look okay Charlie" Eryn stood, and took a hesitant step forward, to which Charlie rejected, taking a step back. 

"Charlie you're bleeding!" Eryn said in frustration. Charlie looked down to a small amount of blood pooling on his shirt.

"Really E, I'm fine" "I got rammed into and fell down some stairs okay?" He protested, he sounded defensive. They both could tell Charlie was lying, he'd never been a good liar. He quickly walked into his bathroom, locking the door behind him.

"Stubborn bastard," Eryn said under her breath, kicking the air.

In the bathroom, he lifted his shirt sleeve up, on his shoulder, was a huge, and very colorful bruise. A mix of green and blue, in the middle were bleeding scratches, some deeper than others. It hurt to just move his arm, which evidently meant he probably broke it or at least fractured his shoulder. He tentatively ran his fingers across the dark bruises, a small jolt of pain ran through him like a bolt of electricity. 

It slowly dripped down his arm. His injury covered his tattoos in dark bruises and fresh blood. He wiped away the wet blood from his arm, rubbing it onto the lower part of his shirt. 

~~~~~ 

The two siblings sat alone for almost two hours, trying to plan a route for scavenging and getting out of the city. As they talked, they were interrupted by the bathroom door opening. 

"I'm sorry…" Charlie said. His shoulder was wrapped up with ace bandages, gauze and medical tape. 

"Jesus Christ" Eryn said angrily "What was that?" She asked, she was thinking the worst. She'd seen what bites did and was terrified that Charlie had been bitten.

"I'm sorry I got defensive, E"  
"Christ just tell me what happened" Eryn said, carefully wrapping her arms around Charlie.

"I'm sorry I-" "I was upset"  
"Char-" Leon's concerned voice came from the window, but he was cut off when gunfire rang out from the streets below. 

"Leon, get away from the window," Charlie said, running up and grabbing the teen. The two looked out the still open window, outside was a white van, and the driver of said van. He had what looked like a revolver, and a dog. His hair was dark, almost black. He was wide, and a damn good shot.

The two ran off before they could get a good look at him. 

"Shit" Charlie hissed, snapping the window shut.  
"What's going on?"  
"Dude outside, got a gun. Probably a revolver, and a dog"


	11. Escapees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mika and the sisters inact their plan to get out, along with some unexpected help from the radio call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hope you enjoy this lol  
> also! if you have any ideas please tell me, because I tend to write ahead and don't know how to get there, SO if you've got any ideas tell me. Limiting this to 20 chapters, when I get to 20 I'll start a new part to the series.

The sudden realization hit Mika like a ton of bricks. The clouds above swirled angrily and rain began to fall.

"Ethan" She said again,   
"Huh?" Delta asked, all the sound made it hard for her to hear Mika, the Jeep circling the building, gunfire, rain and yelling drowned out Mikas soft voice. 

“Shit, I’ll be back” Luci said, beginning to slip back through the broken window  
“We need to go, Luce,” Mika said, remembering the situation they found themselves in.  
“My gun, we won’t last a day without it”   
“We can go without it, please we have to leave” Delta said, grabbing her sister's arm, her face was fearful, her hair was wet and plastered to the sides of her face.

“Delta I need to grab it, trust me” “Go find Tyler, he’s probably out front”  
“Are you crazy Luci?! That’s a death trap!” “Ty said he’d meet us out in the woods” Mika shouted over the heavy thunderstorm.

“For all we know Tyler could die, and we’re stuck out there”  
“This isn’t the time to fucking argue, just go Luce, we’ll figure it out” Mika said, giving Luci a small nudge through the window. 

"Come on, let's go" Mika said, taking Delta by her forearm and pulling the girl up off the wet ground. Delta gave a hasty nod and stood, following close behind Mika. Fear and adrenaline rushed through her, the only thing that kept her from freaking out was probably the girl behind her. She felt like she had to protect her with everything she had, this girl who'd probably never even seen a gun in her life. 

The two ran around the side of the building, the street came into view and the dirt lot in front. Mika pulled the bowie knife from it's cover, the leather sheath was clipped to her belt, bending the material. Gunfire rang out from all around them, and the men yelling at either each other or the eldritch monsters that practically covered the area completely. 

"Shit!" "We can't get through there…" 

"Delta, look at me" Mika said, taking the teens shoulders. Blood from the window mixing with the rain water "I want you to find your sister. Both of us can't get through there with a knife."   
"I'm not going into that!"   
"You're not, go through the window from before" "Find Luci, and run, I'll catch up with you soon"  
"Jesus Christ why can't we just get the fuck out of here?"   
"You are, find Luci and go west, I'll find you soon"   
"Why are you doing this? Just come with us" Mika turned to the battle behind them, she opened her mouth to say something when the roar of a car interrupted her.

Behind her, the two guys from the Jeep jumped out into the chaos, adding to it. The noise was so disorienting, the sudden shots, rain, everything.

"Go, now!" Mika urged, her eyes wide and glossy. 

Delta jumped a bit, and ran off.

"I've got some things to do before I go"

~~~~~

Tyler only had a few bullets left, counting in his head,   
<>Drop one, 3 shots left

He was inside, and cornered. Firing several times in a city, was pretty much a death sentence, but Miles, the stupid fucker he was. 

"Shit, shit, shit" He had one left, and only a locked door protected him. The skin eaters didn't leave, they'd go eventually, but it would take too long, much too long. Besides, they'd probably bash the door open before that. The pounding on the door echoed in his ears, even though he covered them, he dropped the gun to the floor, the metal clanking against the hard floor. His back hit the wall, and he slid down in defeat, he knew he was gonna die. He didn't have a say in the situation. Tyler closed his eyes, and pressed his head into his knees. He got dizzy as he started hyperventilating, panic and fear washing over him. His entire body was rejecting this, his stomach twisted and his throat closed, his limbs felt numb and he pressed his hands hard against his ears. 

God the knocking was so fucking loud, it almost hurt. Their screaming and yelling.

"They ain't no men" He whispered to himself

"They ain't no people. Ain't no person like them" Tyler hoarsely coughed out those words, his mouth felt dry and it almost hurt to speak. He didn't hear anything, just the loud knocking and their shrieks. Incoherent words. Too much. Too much.

Muffled words came through the madness in his head.

"Tyler!" 

He gasped and suddenly the world was real again. Mika stood there, blood on her clothes and body but, she was fine. In her hand was her long bowie knife, gore soaking it and her hand. 

"Ty! Hey you there bud?"   
"Yeah I'm good"   
"Look we've gotta go, like now" She said patting Tyler on the shoulder. He nodded and ran with her. 

They were barely out the door when Mika got a gun but to her face. Pain shocked her body as she hit the floor, hard. 

"Ow fuck-" A foot met her stomach before she could finish her sentence. Tyler went for his gun, realizing it was still on the ground behind him

"Shit" He cursed to himself  
"Boy you move and you better be ready for a face fulla bird shot" Miles's voice was gravely, a split lip and a red bruising mark across his face.

"Oh shut up you asshole" Mika spit  
"You best shut that pretty mouth 'a yours" Miles hissed, his long, and very greasy hair, hung by his face as he looked down to meet Mika's eyes. His eyes were bloodshot and looked like that of a porcelain doll, fake and glassy. 

"Nothing pretty about it you fucking pig"  
"We'll see about that-"

A sudden yell came from Tyler, and next thing she knew the gun was fired and Miles flew from her view, along with Tyler. The two hit the floor hard, Tyler hitting his head and the air knocked out of Miles lungs, and all their ears ringing from the make-shift double barrel going off. 

Mika tried to stand but Miles gripped her ankle, bringing her to the floor once again.

"You're not going anywhere" Miles hissed again, trying to drag Mika closer. A sudden shriek came from the hall ahead. They turned to see a skin eater came hurtling around the corner, hard hitting footsteps and loud yells echoing as it got progressively closer.

"Oh fuck-" Mika said, mustering the strength and shaking away the fog of falling, she kicked Miles hard in the face, scrambling to get the gun Tyler left on the ground. She snatched it up as Miles wrestled with the infected. 

"Hey! Look over here you fucking ingrate" Mika called, pointing the gun at them. Miles turned just for a second, giving the infected a chance to bite into his collarbone, causing Miles to cry out. 

"No fucking mercy you asshole" She said through clenched teeth, firing the single bullet into his chest, letting him fall to the ground. She pulled the bowie knife from its sheath, blood having semi-dried to the blade. She walked up to the skin eater, cutting off it's yell but driving the blade into its throat. She looked over, Tyler stood, he wobbled and stumbled a bit, his body felt heavy and like it was floating at the same time.

"You okay?"   
"I-I don't know," He said. His voice wondered. His hand fell from his head, blood soaking his fingertips

"Oh...guess I'm not fine" He laughed lightly  
"Jesus!-" Mika said, running up to Tyler

"Mika," A voice came from down the hall. She turned, there in the same bloody hoodie, was Ethan, his shotgun, and a man, a tall one.


End file.
